1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to golfing ranges. More particularly, the present invention discloses a method and apparatus for providing players at a golf range significantly better ball placement feedback and providing golf gaming possibilities using targets with RFID readers, RFID tags embedded within the golf balls being used, and GPS data.
2. The Prior Art
Golf ranges have typical configurations, well-known to those that use them. There is an entry point, where the player purchases some quantity of balls from the range. There may be minor variances in the pay schedule (regular players, walk-ons, etc.) but buying the balls is the player's payment for using the range. The balls are typical golf balls, and are usually stored in baskets or in a large hopper which dispenses a number of balls on demand (similarly to a coin dispenser) into a basket. There is no individually assignable ID on a per golf ball basis. The player then takes the balls to the tee or matt area, and hits them out into the range until they are gone.
The range will have various markers for distance placed throughout the range. A player hits a ball, and follows it with their eyes (if they can). After the ball hits the ground, a player must do as best they can to make a visual estimate of the distance they hit the ball, using the nearest distance marker. That completes the play.
There is some variation to the standard golf ranges found in England. There, several installations have added permanent targets in parts of the range. These targets are designed similarly to skee-ball type targets—concentric rings, with drainage holes for the balls that enter the rings (the drainage holes are similar to the those found in the last hole of a miniature golf course, where the ball follows a drain permanently installed underground back to the register or cashier booth). The targets a typically made of cement with a fabric covering. In some installations, the golf balls have RFID tags in them, and the balls entering the drain in the concentric circles of the target are read as they roll through the drain pipe. This allows the range to keep “scores” as golfers hit balls into the rings.
The current range play options for golfers is quite limited. A golfer has a choice of a standard range with no feedback available to the golfer other than his or her own visual feedback, or, in the UK one can go to a range having permanently installed concentric ring targets. There is no flexibility for the players (golfers) or the ranges for any type of dynamic changes to the range set-up, and limited feedback is available to the golfers trying to improve their game.